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D.C. Law Firm Suspends Woman Who Worked as Escort

May 03, 2007 1:16 PM

Dc_law_firm_sus_mn A legal secretary at one of Washington's most prominent and well-connected law firms, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, has been suspended after telling her bosses she secretly worked at night for the escort service run by the so-called D.C. Madam, Jeane Palfrey.

The woman both serviced clients and, at times, helped to run the business, Palfrey told ABC News in an interview to be broadcast on "20/20" Friday.

The firm said it would not make her name public.

According to e-mails the woman sent to Palfrey on her Akin Gump account, she "enjoyed and even missed" the work she did at night for Palfrey, who has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a large scale prostitution ring.

"Perhaps not the weekly grind, but was thinking that a day a week would be fun and spa money," the legal secretary wrote to Palfrey last year, after Palfrey had closed her business and was considering whether to re-open it.

Palfrey said the Akin Gump secretary would at times "answer the phones" and assign women on nights when Palfrey was unavailable.

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Palfrey has pled not guilty to the charges against her, maintaining her escort service, Pamela Martin and Associates, provided "legal, fantasy sex" and nothing more. 

The Akin Gump secretary was described by Palfrey as an "absolutely lovely gal," who was working as an escort "to go back to school and get her education, to finish her college degree."

"We had no inkling until she informed us this Monday morning," said R. Bruce  McLean, the chairman of Akin Gump.

The woman, who worked directly for one of the firm's many prominent lawyers, has been placed on administrative leave.

The firm has a policy prohibiting full-time employees from holding any other jobs. "She did not seek approval for that particular job and would not have been given it," McLean said.

McLean said the woman told the firm she was a government witness in the D.C. Madam case, and the firm was hesitant to dismiss her because of that.

According to the e-mails provided to ABC News by Palfrey, the Akin Gump woman was interested in helping to restart the escort service after Palfrey had closed it, suggesting it could be done from the Akin Gump offices.

"It is a shame to basically throw away over a decade of hard work and contacts," she wrote last October, just before federal agents raided Palfrey's operation.

"I think that handling the phones 4 to 5 nights a week is a very fair offer and would be something that I could easily do, even with my paralegal duties as they could pretty much be done simultaneously in front of a computer," she wrote.

A lawyer for the woman, Athan Tsimpedes, said his client "never took over the business." He said his client "does not want the publicity that Ms. Palfrey desperate seeks."

Considered one of the most powerful firms in Washington, Akin Gump partners make up a who's who of Washington insiders, including Vernon Jordan, former Speaker of the House Tom Foley, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman and co-founder Robert Strauss, an adviser to numerous presidents.

May 3, 2007 in D.C. Madam Affair | Permalink | User Comments (105)

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Apparently, it was the right number to call if you'd been Gumped in D.C. and were Akin to be Feld for an Hauer.

Posted by: TPA in HOU | May 3, 2007 2:06:50 PM

Hmmm, let's just see how corporate elites react when they learn it was one of them who was patronizing the little gals.

Doesn't exactly seem fair for the john to get away while the madam and her girls get snared.

Posted by: Mimi Schaeffer | May 3, 2007 2:10:25 PM

Well, one thing for sure, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, wasn't a customer, now was he?

Posted by: R.Fritz | May 3, 2007 2:25:03 PM

do escorts bill in increments of a tenth of an hour, like the lawyers?

Posted by: Jack Kerouwack | May 3, 2007 2:25:10 PM

Life's...not...fair.

Posted by: dobler2u | May 3, 2007 2:26:21 PM

Having worked as a legal secretary for 25+ years before retiring, I can tell you that I can understand how ANY girl could seek a more interesting job at night; most male attorneys are full of themselves and don't really give a whit about their staff members. Years ago, attorneys became attorneys to perform services for their clients, but in the past 10-15 years, all of us who worked for them began to see they were in it just for the MONEY - so Of COURSE, the "loser" would be the legal secretary.

Posted by: Sharon | May 3, 2007 2:31:25 PM

You have got to be kidding........with terrorists trying to destroy this country along treasonous behavior by Congress - one would think there was better things to be worried about!! But then again this is D.C. full of self-centered, lazy, civically and historically ignorant sheep!

Posted by: claudette | May 3, 2007 2:40:07 PM

Those who patronize these women are vulnerable to blackmail. They should all lose their security clearances. When they received clearances, they were all briefed not to patronize such services. It's a step or two above treason.

Posted by: Larry | May 3, 2007 2:49:26 PM

Well, I am wondering, just who wasn't a client :>). I guess Ms. Palfrey's services just rub some folks the wrong way.

Posted by: Pat | May 3, 2007 2:57:45 PM

That seems to me to be the ultimate irony. A group of Washington Lawyers firing someone they suspect of being a whore when that's the very nature of Washington DC lawyering.

Note how the reason for the firing was not because it sullied the reputation of the firm, but rather she failed to ask for their permission to "moonlight".

Posted by: SumoRunner | May 3, 2007 3:04:11 PM

I wonder if these law firms dump any clients that show up on the list?

Posted by: Earvolution | May 3, 2007 3:04:17 PM

Suspended for what! I equate the law firm to prostitutes, they represent lobbyists to the Congress of the United States, they are the true whores, at least the attorney in question does it as a hobby as well, at least she is not a Hypocrite. Perhaps that’s why they suspended her!

Posted by: Impaler | May 3, 2007 3:08:02 PM

To the previous poster:

No, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, wasn't a customer. He is gay, so he wouldn't need their services. He must really hate himself for his job; poor guy.

I guess the fact that he helped put a good face on this disaster of an administration lets me avoid giving him any sympathy.

Posted by: Demo Crazy | May 3, 2007 3:09:00 PM

If a man picks up the dinner or theater tickets tab to get it, it is acceptable. If a man buys an engagement ring to get it, it is acceptable. Bottom line, everybody pays one way or the other, be it an hour or decades. It will stop when the earth is no more!

Posted by: Lee | May 3, 2007 3:09:05 PM

I agree the only whores I know in D.C. are the lobbyist and not to mention many politicians are right in the same category. It is true there are too many attorneys that have only one true meaning of the constitution "the right to bear arms....". There is no We the People, for the People, we will be there for the unfortunate, the little guy. Talk about something else the law firm can understand how to charge more hours on a case and scramble cases up extend their hourly wages.

Posted by: Ozzie | May 3, 2007 3:18:28 PM

LIARS!!!!! I wonder how many lawyers are on that client list . . . hmmmmmmmmm LMAO!!!!!!!!

Posted by: The plot thickens | May 3, 2007 3:19:59 PM

I agree the only whores I know in D.C. are the lobbyist and not to mention many politicians in the same category. It is true there are too many attorneys that have only one true meaning of the constitution "the right to bear arms....". There is no We the People, for the People, we will be there for the unfortunate, the little guy. Talk about something else the law firm can understand, let's see, how to charge more hours on a case and scramble cases up extend their hourly wages, yep that is what lawyers do today. Basically, the legal secretary was in the wrong but the firm is not right either. In the end, it is always about money - maybe she should have shared it with the firm.

Posted by: Ozzie | May 3, 2007 3:21:18 PM

what is the big deal...her personal life is none of the firms business! they are just jealous they weren't in on it...unless they were??
of course...what a crock!

Posted by: Wildhrt9 | May 3, 2007 3:23:45 PM

I think that if she knows more than a few names herself, she will get a nice bonus from her law firm, by coincidence, at the same she casually tells her bosses just who she had contact with. That is, if what she says about them not knowing anything is true.

Posted by: Alessandra | May 3, 2007 3:23:59 PM

Fire the secretary, well I never! A man can do and have who he wants but as soon as a woman does anything like an escort service ect. than its a no no. Come on give us a break men especially the big wheels who do but thats ok because they are men.

Posted by: ARLENE | May 3, 2007 3:24:37 PM

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